Miners reject proposed mining Bill

Zambia's Government has proposed a new Minerals Regulation Commission Bill, which seeks to ‘regulate and monitor the development and management of mineral resources’ in Africa's second-biggest copper producer. However, Zambia's Chamber of Mines, the main mining industry body, and the Association of Zambian Mineral Exploration Companies said some parts of the proposed law ‘will drive up the perception of investment risk in Zambia’. ‘Unfortunately, due to...the prospect of forced 'free carry' acquisitions by the state of stakes in new ventures, this Bill will seriously undermine property rights,’ the mining industry bodies said. Fin24 reports that President Hakainde Hichilema's Government, elected in 2021, has sought to repair the country's investment reputation and ramp up copper production, which was impacted by the seizure of Konkola Copper Mines from Vedanta by the previous administration in 2019. The new government has handed the company back to Vedanta as it pushes to raise copper output to 3m tonnes per year within the next decade to take advantage of growing demand for the metal, which is key to the global shift to cleaner sources of energy.